Fast-Track Training to Get Race Ready After a Setback

Crash training isn't ideal, but it can work

So you have a big race coming up, the one that you've had circled on your calendar and imprinted on your mind for the past several months. The goal that has spurred you to climb out of your warm, comfortable bed way too early to get in your workout, that's kept you focused through intervals or hill workouts that you were convinced would never quite end is finally visible on the horizon. In fact, it might be even closer than that. It might feel like it's looming just around the corner. Problem is, you're no longer quite sure that you're going to be able to be ready for it. Injury, illness, life, something has kept you from getting in enough of your prescribed runs and workouts. Now the race you've been focusing on is just weeks away and you feel woefully unprepared, but you still want to run it. What to do?

First, take a few deep breaths and understand that all is not lost. In spite of the setbacks, if you still have four to six weeks until the race, you can, by doing the right workouts, get yourself ready not just to complete the race, but to compete and compete well. Be warned, however, that because your preparation for the competition will be less than ideal, you'll need to adjust your original expectations for the race.

PREPARING THE UNPREPARED BODY

The focus of your training will be attempting to "simulate to [the] body what the race might hold," according to Steve Sisson, coach of the University of Texas women's cross country team as well as Team Rogue Elite, an elite athlete training group based in Austin, Texas. Sisson says that runners need to get to a point in their training where they're getting an idea of what the race is going to feel like so that it's less of a shock on race day. "What they can do is prepare themselves for the stresses that they are going to have [in the race] and make the experience as good and as positive an experience as possible," he says.

Whether you're preparing for a 5K, 10K or something in the 15K to half marathon range, your training objectives are twofold. (If your waylaid race is a marathon, your best bet is to do it as a long run at training pace and refocus on another marathon you can prepare properly for.) The first is to increase the amount of mileage done at a higher level of quality, generally done through tempo runs, to stimulate your cardiovascular system. The second is to mix in some speed work as you get closer to the race to fire up your fast-twitch muscle fibers.

If you have six weeks until your goal race, the basic training structure should be as follows: The first four weeks would be the quality work phase; the following week would be the race-preparation phase; and the final week would be the sharpening, rest and recovery phase. In a four-week situation, two and a half weeks would be devoted to quality work, while race preparation would be scaled back to a maximum of two quick workouts with one last sharpening workout added in near the end, if possible, and only the last three to four days before the race being designated for rest and recovery.

During the quality work phase you'll need to be doing at least two, if not three, hard workouts each week. At least one of them should be a long tempo run (as in, usually longer than your goal race). Tempo runs are important because they require you to concentrate on keeping up a steady, strong pace for a prolonged time, just like you'll have to do in your race. Sisson recommends that if you're training for a 5K, your weekly tempo run should be at least 4 miles long. If you're pointing toward a 10K, put in at least a 7-mile tempo run, and if you're working toward a 15K to half marathon, get in at least an 11-mile tempo run. The pace used for these runs should be what he describes as "comfortably hard." This will obviously be different for everyone and might even vary from one workout to the next, but you can use 25 to 30 seconds slower than your 5K race pace as a guide for the tempo runs of 20-25 minutes, adding approximately 5 seconds per mile for every 10 additional minutes of tempo run. (Example: If your 5K pace is 5:30/mile, a 20-minute tempo run would be at approximately 5:55-6:00/mile, while an hour tempo run would be at approximately 6:15-6:20/mile.)

The other hard workout to include in each of the quality-work weeks is a fartlek. Fartleks, which are a combination of fast and slow running, can be indispensable in a situation where training time is limited, because they address both the higher-quality and speed training objectives during the course of a single workout. Consequently, they're one of the most efficient ways to elevate your fitness level quickly. The purpose of the fartlek is to get your body used to running at or just below race pace for a sustained, albeit limited, amount of time. Additionally, they "get the body to understand what its paces and rhythms are," says Sisson.

The workouts in the race-preparation phase are more easily done on a track, but if you don't have access to one, they can also be done on the road. The purpose of these workouts is to train your body to continue to run fast even when it's already fatigued. These workouts are made up of a series of intervals, all relatively short (i.e., none more than 1,000m) but they're run at race pace or, preferably, a little faster. See "Crash Training Plans" for more about these and the other workouts described here.

Finally, if everything has gone to plan, you should have enough time before the race to do one last sharpening workout. It should be something light and quick that doesn't leave you feeling taxed. The purpose here is to get a little quick leg turnover going, to start "feeling fast." If you do this workout, do so three to four days before the race with those last several days being set aside solely for easy running, the only possible addition to those runs being a few very easy strides at the end of them. Whether you do that last sharpening workout should be determined by what your body is telling you as that last week of training progresses. If you find that your energy level is low and your legs don't seem to have a whole lot of spring in them, it's better to simply drop this last workout.

Crash Training Plans

5K

WEEK 1A) 4- to 5-mile tempo run B) 4–5 sets of 4–5 minutes hard with 3- to 4-minute recovery jogs (5–7 miles total with warm-up and cool-down)

WEEK 2A) 4- to 5-mile tempo run B) 3 X 1.5–2 miles hard with 5-minute recovery jogs (6–8 miles total with warm-up and cool-down)

WEEK 3 A) 4- to 5-mile tempo run B) 4–5 sets of 4–5 minutes hard with 3- to 4-minute recovery jogs (5–7 miles total with warm-up and cool-down)

With the physical work completed, there's one last thing you'll need to attend to – your head. Running a race when you know going in that your preparation was less than what it should have been can be daunting. Having the right mindset for this situation is as important, if not more, than the physical training that you did to get yourself there. Again, when your race preparation hasn't been ideal, the expectations that you have for your performance need to be adjusted.

"You need to temper your goals with reality," says Sisson, "and that way you can have a much more positive experience in the race."

However, this doesn't mean that you can't take away just as much, and perhaps even more, from this experience than you would have had your training been everything you expected it to be. You'll have gained something from this process that's not easily obtained: the knowledge that you can persevere through adversity and still make the most of a situation even when the circumstances you are faced with are less than idyllic.